Tentative budget deal to put health reform on fast track

Andrew Taylor

WASHINGTON – Angling to award President Barack Obama a victory by his 100th day in office, Democrats in Congress have reached tentative agreement on a budget pact that would prevent Republicans from blocking his ambitious plan to vastly expand government-subsidized health care.

But the blueprint emerging from talks on a compromise House-Senate budget plan would allow Obama's signature $400 tax cut for most workers to expire instead of renewing it, as he wants. And even after squeezing the defense and war budgets, the plan would lead to lasting deficits in the $500 billion range.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said yesterday that negotiators have resolved most of their differences on the budget measure, a nonbinding outline crucial to helping advance Obama's agenda through Congress. Once passed, the measure would set the rules on how Congress considers the president's agenda for the rest of the year.

Most important, the measure would allow Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system to pass the Senate without the threat of a GOP filibuster. That would limit the Republicans' ability to get concessions and give Democrats far more control over the specifics of the health care legislation.

Those advantages come at a cost: fury among Republicans who protest that overhauling the U.S. health care system is far too big and important to advance under fast-track rules that allow for only a 20-hour debate in the Senate.

“It would make it absolutely clear they intend to carry out their plans on a purely partisan basis,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

A senior Democratic congressional aide revealed the fundamentals of the accord on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

Congressional votes next week would provide a symbolic victory for Obama's sweeping agenda to enact a universal health care system, invest in education and clean energy, and cut the exploding budget deficit to manageable levels.

Reid said the Senate would approve the budget measure Wednesday, which marks Obama's 100th day in office. House leaders hope to pass the plan Tuesday.

While handing Obama a symbolic victory, lawmakers have an extraordinary amount of heavy lifting ahead to make his vision of health care reform a reality – including raising taxes and cutting spending to generate $1 trillion or more over the next decade to fund the health care initiative.

Under typical Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to advance a bill, but passage of the budget plan would allow for a “reconciliation bill” that can pass the notoriously balky chamber with just a simple majority and only 20 hours of debate.

Democrats hold 56 seats in the Senate plus two independents who typically vote with the party. Republicans have 41 seats, and there is one vacancy because of a contested Minnesota race in which Democrat Al Franken holds a narrow lead.